The route of the army led through a mountain pass. In this pass was a
petty and obscure town, Guntz by name, badly fortified, and garrisoned
by a mere handful of men, eight hundred in all. Its principal means of
defence lay in the presence of an indomitable commander, Nicholas
Jurissitz, a man of iron nerve and fine military skill.
Ibrahim Pasha, who led the vanguard of the Turkish force, ordered the
occupation of this mountain fortress, and learned with anger and
mortification that Guntz had closed its gates and frowned defiance on
his men. Word was sent back to Solyman, who probably laughed in his
beard at the news. It was as if a fly had tried to stop an ox.
"Brush it away and push onward," was probably the tenor of his orders.
But Guntz was not to be brushed away. It stood there like an awkward
fact, its guns commanding the pass through which the army must march, a
ridiculous obstacle which had to be dealt with however time might press.
The sultan sent orders to his advance-guard to take the town and march
on. Ibrahim Pasha pushed forward, assailed it, and found that he had not
men enough for the work.
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